Keno Omar

Not too long ago MH played "Mulanya Di Sini" by Freedom (sung by Shuaib and the late Seha) during takeoff and/or landing. The tune was also used in one of their TV ads. If I recall correctly the song was popular in the late 80s, but it wasn't until at least a decade later that MH used it for their promotion.

I did not make a resolution for 2009, but was glad that I managed to visit 3 new countries (Czech Republic, Iceland and Greenland), flew on 7 different airlines (5 of which were my first), and returned home twice. My travel/aviation resolutions for 2010: 1. To travel during long weekends from LUX to at least 2 European countries that I have not been to. Top priority includes Malta (Air Malta from FRA/BRU) and Finland (Ryanair from HHN). 2. To return to KUL in Aug/Sep for Raya. Ideally I prefer it to be on KLM but would most likely end up with MAS SuperSaver KUL-FRA. It would be great to finally give A380 a try on CDG-DXB-KUL, but I hate connecting at midpoint when flying Europe-KUL, so I guess my first A380 experience would have to wait a bit more. 3. To travel longhaul during Christmas break, currently eyeing on Antarctica as first choice. Preferrably on a SkyTeam airline, i.e. Air Europa or Air France CDG/MAD-EZE, connecting to LAN or Aerolineas AEP/EZE-USH, then cruise/sailing to the 7th continent. This is by far my most ambitious travel resolution to date, so wish me luck!

Too good to be true if it were United AIRLINES

I can't understand why AKX is considering NCE as their second european gateway. To make a route viable, they need to have demand on both ends, which is fairly obvious in the case of STN. South of France is hardly a popular travel destination for Malaysians (if you can afford to stay in Cannes, then you can also afford to fly 'normal' airline), while the proud French living in the south generally do not travel far for vacation. I also read in The Star that AKX considers places as far as GVA to be within its catchment area, which sounds pretty ridiculous, as it takes about 6 hours by high speed train TGV. IMHO Frankfurt Hahn makes much for sense. I'm trying not to be biased since I now live 90 minutes away from it, but HHN catchment area is HUGE - Frankfurt, Cologne & Dusseldorf in Germany, Luxembourg, Maastricht in Netherlands, southern Belgium, Lorraine in northeastern France, with a total population of easily tens of millions - are all within 2 hours' drive. Plus, Germans travel to Malaysia & Thailand for vacation a whole lot more than the French, and while Malaysians can take advantage of Ryanair's huge presence in HHN for connection to other european cities. ORY has a much better connecting possibilities compared to Beauvais, which is not even considered a hub by Ryanair. Transavia and Easyjet both have large presence in ORY. The choice between ORY and NCE is obvious.

KCH Airport Immigration Tel: 082-457510 http://www.imi.gov.my/eng/telefon/im_telSarawak.asp

I've flown to Gibraltar twice. I didn't find it particularly scary as a passenger, except that huge chuck of steep rock ("Rock of Gibraltar") seemed too close for comfort. The fun part was that passengers can walk from the tiny airport terminal to town. In fact, all ground traffic between the town and the Spanish border has to cross the runway. [ link to Google Maps ]

It has been 2 months since I ordered my Temptations vouchers online to make use of my expiring miles. My 13k odd miles were deducted immediately upon order but I have yet to receive anything by post. I'm glad that I ditched Enrich 2 years ago and start accruing Flyingblue points instead.

I used my expiring miles for the year to order online 5 x RM50 vouchers. I've given up with the e-shop.

Hi Shahril. I studied in Bristol from 1999 to 2003. Glad to know that there are still Malaysians there In Paris, I recommend you take an appartment, it's more comfortable for a family and cheaper. Besides, it gives you an opportunity to live like a true Parisian rather than confined to typical touristy hotels. I stayed at this place last April for a week, it costs me only €50/room for 2 people: http://www.homelidays.com/paris-11-oberkam...io116325en1.htm (use the website to search for more). Alternatively, if you are still looking for regular hotels, I often find the best deals with Priceline http://www.priceline-europe.com/ Easyjet has direct flights BRS-CDG. You might want to look into that.

How's the IFE gonna be like? I didn't see any option to pre-purchase one during the booking.

Yay I have finally reached the moon

Haven't been posting here for quite sometime now, but fascinated with this old topic Azizul came up with Now it's my turn... Preparation: I would often lay my things on a table at least 1-2 days in advance so that I could see clearly all the things that I've got. Once ready, putting it all in the bag would only take few minutes. Baggage: When travelling for leisure or a short trip, I try to avoid carrying a trolley luggage but opt for a backpack instead and have it as cabin luggage. I hate waiting at the caroussel when I could in fact start exploring the new destination right away. Getting to the Airport: For long trips, my parents would usually send me off or pick me up, or a cab if they're not free. From LHR i prefer taking the slower bus rather than the crummy tube, although I did splash out on Heathrow Express once coz I was too tired from the flight. Choice of Airline: Don't really care as long as it's the cheapest, but I tend to stick to only MH, Gulf carriers and European carriers. I absolutely hate Ryanair but can't help myself from avoiding them coz they're cheap! Choice of Airliner/Airport/Frequency etc: I always prefer non-stop even for a 13-hours flight, unless I could have a short break for 1-2 days at the stopover point, especially Dubai. Otherwise, a transit just makes me lose precious sleeping time. Frequent Flyer Program: I've started to ditch Enrich and accrue MH-operated flights using FlyingBlue instead. Check-In: I'm often one of the first passengers to check in, i.e. up to 3 hours before depature. Then I could take my own sweet time to enjoy an overpriced coffee or window shopping Onboard: I only take window seat for short haul flights (<3 hours), otherwise I always opt for aisle seat. I don't like to bother people whenever I need to use the loo, plus there's additional legroom if I stretch my legs slightly sideways. Duty Free Shopping: Usually just mags, books or last-minute souvenir shopping. I never entertain requests from friends for cartons of cheap cigarettes. Travelling in Group: I love it, BUT only if I am the ring leader, and it can't be more than 3 people. I need to be the one who calls all the shots

TF ought to open a Tune Hotel within the airport ground as a backpackers alternative to PanPac and Airside.

Jetstar Asia only has a fleet of 5, while AirAsia has nearly ten times as many at 47 (Malaysia-based only). How could Jetstar Asia have flown double the number of flights within the same period? The initial statement must be true or else they're not actually comparing apple with apple.

Although the recent money changer shoot-out wasn't nearly as bad as the one in Papua, but potentially, God forbids, who knows what could have potentially happened on that day. If we could even remotely relate the level of security between KLIA and Papua, that alone would disqualify our beloved home base from the top spot.

I wouldn't single out Ryanair on this practice, many LCC in europe have been doing this for few years now. It surely discriminates those who can't live without heavy luggages but for light traveler like me, I often travel without checked luggage and just carry a backpack instead. It makes life easier for not having to wait at the carousel upon arrival. Mind you, AirAsia X have had this policy since they first flew to OOL, so this is nothing new in the Malaysian scene either.

Ryanair, July 2003 : Venice to London Stansted. There was a report of a fire in Stansted so many flights were diverted to other London airports. We were diverted to Gatwick and were not allowed to leave the plane for at least 2 hours. This being Ryanair, we weren't even offered tap water, and all of the food supplies for sale onboard must have been sold off by then. I was really pissed that we weren't given the option of leaving the plane at Gatwick and how the crew ignored disgruntled passengers onboard while not knowing how many hours we would be stranded. I know Ryanair can't be blamed for the fire incident at Stansted but I can't help putting the blame on this crappy airline. Viva Easyjet.

No idea on the extent of change we'd see in Malaysia now that BN no longer holds 2/3 majority, but at least any of govt's plans to bail out MAS (via PMB, Petronas, etc) will no longer go unchallenged at Dewan Rakyat! So IJ beware, the safety net may no longer be as comfortable as in the past... There there... be nice... No need to resort to name calling just to get your point across.

Happened to me once but SCreamyx was to blame in my case, not due to poorly designed booking system. I immediately rang MAS just to double check that my card was not being charged.

As much as I'd love to see MAS return to its former glory, I'm extremely skeptical that this BTP2 is ever going to work. Five star quality (a la SQ, CX, QR) and "value carrier" cannot be achieved simultaneously. I highly question MAS' rationale that they could have it both, rather than facing a difficult trade off between the two. To maintain and improve five star quality will not come cheap, and this wont be easy either with the ongoing cost cutting throughout the organization. Should MAS decide to go "value carrier" all way (by sacrificing its five star quality), it will be very difficult for MAS to compete with the likes of AK and AK-X on the basis of low fares due the high cost structure of MAS as a legacy carrier. More opinions here: http://www.malaysianwings.com/forum/index....c=7795&st=0 Some words from an aviation business analyst from world's leading provider of credit ratings:

OK just posted mine below. Am I the only one here to have pre-1998 SZB in the airport list? I feel old now Tarmizi, Zaki, You need to change Profile>Settings to activate public viewing coz we cannot see your maps + flight statistics.

I found yet another fantasy island north of Auckland which also seems to have a nonstop link to Sao Paulo. Perhaps MAS could blame it on plate tectonics

Haha I like this quote. At least passengers have the option to have nasi lemak on board (albeit at RM8 charge) compared to that other airline which recently launched Malaysian Hospitality campaign All the best to AirAsia

They proudly advertise other airlines' routes but forgot their own. How embarassing Looking at the routes out of Sao Paulo, you can see there's one route to a Central African "island" labelled "Porto Alegre". First of all, Porto Alegre is a Brazillian city few hundred km southwest of Sao Paulo (Wiki link), and secondly, there is no direct route linking Sao Paulo and Central Africa, nor to the non-existant "island" on the map (neither on TAM nor other airlines).

I've never come across airlines that show routes of interlining partners. Alliance partners are different. This is pure spin! Berjaya Air has interlining agreement with VS (according to their website). Imagine their tiny route network superimposed on VS global network, see how ridiculous that sounds?